Mideast Ceasefire

This is why John Bolton is the right man to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

He has a spine.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The United States and France agreed Saturday on a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that calls for a "full cessation" of fighting between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas, but would allow Israel to defend itself if attacked.

The draft, obtained by The Associated Press, "calls for a full cessation of hostilities based upon, in particular, the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations."

That language would be a major victory for Israel, which has insisted it must have the right to respond if Hezbollah launches missiles against it. France and many other nations had demanded an immediate halt to violence without conditions as a way to push the region back toward stability.

I thought John Bolton was such a "big, bad bully" that it would be impossible for him to engage in fruitful diplomacy.

I guess not.

President Bush was right about Bolton and all those Dem and RINO naysayers were wrong.

Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton have had to rethink their opposition to Bolton and backtrack.

Dry your tears, George Voinovich.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton and French President Jacques Chirac's office confirmed that agreement had been reached. The full 15-nation Security Council was to meet later Saturday to discuss the resolution, and it was likely to be adopted in the next couple of days, Bolton said.

"We're prepared to continue to work tomorrow in order to make progress on the adoption of the resolution but we have reached agreement and we're now ready to proceed," Bolton said. "We're prepared to move as quickly as other members of the council want to move."

The resolution asks that Israel and Lebanon agree to a set of principles to achieve a long-term peace. One crucial element is an arms embargo that would block any entity except the Lebanese government from buying weapons.

That is presumably meant to block the sale of arms to Hezbollah from Iran and Syria, believed to be the militia's main suppliers.

Other principles spelled out in the resolution include the disarmament of Hezbollah; the creation of a buffer zone from the U.N.-demarcated border between Israel and Lebanon north to the Litani River; and the delineation of Lebanon's borders, especially in the disputed Chebaa Farms area.

The resolution would call for the current U.N. force in Lebanon, known by its acronym UNIFIL, to monitor the cessation in fighting. Once Israel and Lebanon have agreed to the series of principles, the Security Council would then authorize a new peacekeeping force for the region.

That force would "support the Lebanese armed forces and government in providing a secure environment and contribute to the implementation of a permanent cease-fire and a long-term solution."

That element was a victory for France. The U.S. and Israel had earlier insisted that there would be no deal without the immediate deployment of a new force, separate from UNIFIL.

That's not much of a concession from the U.S. and Israel, but if it allows France to think that it still wields some power in world affairs, so be it.

...Since fighting began, the U.N. Security Council has failed to take any action to stop it, primarily because of opposition from the United States, Israel's closest ally.

And why was there opposition from the U.S.?

Simple.

The terrorist-appeasing UN was demanding that Israel stop defending itself without any conditions to guarantee its safety from the hostile nations (Iran, Syria) and their terrorist militias (Hezbollah) bent on Israel's destruction.

Why would the U.S. agree to something so utterly one-sided and certain to be ineffective?

The U.S. under "cowboy" George Bush, and as represented at the UN by John Bolton, is not in appeaser mode.
Bad news for terrorists.

Good news for democracy and freedom.

Any deal will have to gain the acceptance of both Israel and Hezbollah, which could prove difficult.

Israel says it wants to continue fighting for up to two weeks to seriously diminish Hezbollah's military capability; Hezbollah's chief spokesman said Thursday the militia will not agree to a cease-fire until all Israeli troops leave Lebanon.

It bugs me that the international community has spent weeks casting Israel as the aggressor and putting the onus on Israel to stop the fighting.

That's wrong.

While the Israelis have done all that was asked of them in the peace process, Arab nations have not.

Lebanon failed to comply with UN Security Council resolution 1559. In effect, the country granted Hezbollah a home base.

Iran, for its part, admits that it has armed Hezbollah, the group that killed 241 American servicemen in 1983.

To claim that Hezbollah is a poorly armed underdog in this conflict is ridiculous.

Why don't we call it what it is?

Hezbollah is Iran. It's getting its marching orders from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In the end, I'm certain that a truce brokered by the Security Council will NOT achieve a lasting peace.

Iran and Syria and Hezbollah and Hamas, etc. have no interest in any peace that includes the existence of Israel.

Is that so difficult to understand?

It really sickens me that so many are blind to that fact, marching in the streets around the world, condemning Israel and the United States.

An even more disturbing possibility is that so many around the world actually want Israel to be annihilated.

Read the resolution.